“Our theology, our liturgy, our laws, our pastoral practices, our structures, our ecclesial landscape have all witnessed change,” Bishop O’Connell writes. “Truth, however, has not changed; the Gospel has not changed; faith has not changed; Jesus Christ has not changed. Sin has not changed, either, nor has the grace that God gives us to confront sin. What is different, what has changed is the way we express our Catholic beliefs and apply them to a changing world.“

The Bishop continues: “Contrary to what today’s Catholics might say or feel, this is not a new experience. Every generation of Catholics since the beginning of the Church at that first Pentecost have encountered change in the way our faith finds its expression, its relevance, its vibrancy. Our enduring, constant faith is the language we use to make sense of our changing world and its ‘interesting times.’”

Bishop O’Connell later writes about the criticism our Holy Father Pope Francis sometimes draws from the faithful because of how the Pope presents our faith.

“Contrary to what some may argue, Pope Francis has not changed what the Church teaches or believes. He is striving to find a way to present the enduring, constant Catholic faith ‘new in ardor, method and expression.’ That is not only ‘interesting’; it is the way the Church has always lived with and for God’s people, ‘ever ancient, ever new.’”